Wealthy Americans and redistribution: The role of fairness preferences
研究美国顶层5%富裕人群对政府再分配的态度，发现他们比普通人更接受不平等，尤其是白手起家的富人，这种公平偏好差异预测了他们对再分配的反对和保守投票行为。
We examine the attitudes of the wealthy towards government redistribution using a large and diverse sample of individuals from the top 5% of the income and wealth distribution in the U.S., as well as the remaining 95%. Three results stand out: (1) wealthy Americans have distinct fairness preferences, with a greater willingness to accept inequalities relative to the general public, (2) individuals who self-report having experienced upward social mobility and became first-generation wealthy are particularly accepting of inequality, while those born into wealth have fairness preferences similar to the general population; (3) the disparity in fairness preferences between the rich and the general public is predictive of greater opposition to redistribution among the wealthy, resulting in more conservative voting behavior. These findings provide new insights into the reasons behind the wealthy’s opposition to government redistribution.